As a country, Scotland has some of the most aggressive renewable energy targets in the world – the entire nation is working to be completely independent of fossil fuels in the next decade, and has pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2020. You don’t have to be an energy expert to know that’s no small goal, so it’s no surprise that Scotland is embracing practically every clean energy technology it can find. The country recently announced plans to build the world’s first community-owned tidal turbine. The turbine will be deployed in the Bluemull Sound between the islands of Yell and Unst, and used to power a local ice plant and industrial estate. It will be owned by the North Yell community.

The Nova-30 device will be built locally as well, thanks to a fabrication agreement between Leith-based Nova Innovation Ltd and Steel Engineering, which has a newly expanded Renfrew facility. The new premises, which will help the Steel Engineering meet its ambition to create 120 new jobs, were officially opened by Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond today. The tidal turbine looks very much like an above-ground wind turbine, using a three-bladed rotor to extract energy from the ocean tides.

“Scotland is leading the way in the development of marine renewables,” said the First Minister during a visit to Steel Engineering,”and today’s announcement that the world’s first community-owned turbine is to be manufactured and deployed on these shores is a truly fantastic endorsement of our burgeoning renewables sector.”